Nationalist Movement Party

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is a Turkish nationalist and right-wing populist party which was founded on 9 February 1969 by Colonel Alparslan Turkes. The MHP was founded to focus on Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's nationalist policies, as Turkes believed that the Republican People's Party (CHP) had moved too far away from the Turkish nationalist stance of Ataturk; he famously said that he would not have formed the MHP if the CHP had continued Ataturk's policies. The party's Grey Wolves youth wing murdered hundreds of people during the 1976-1980 political violence in Turkey, and it even attempted to kill Pope John Paul II. Turkes' successor Devlet Bahceli became Deputy Prime Minister in 1999 after moderating the party's views, and the party became a strong ally of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). In 2016, the party held 40/550 parliament seats, 3/50 metropolitan municipality seats, 166/1,351 district municipality seats, and 174/1,251 provincial council seats.